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AMD Designing All-New CPU Cores For ARMv8, X86

Posted by samzenpus on from the brand-new dept.

crookedvulture (1866146) writes "AMD just revealed that it has two all-new CPU cores in the works. One will be compatible with the 64-bit ARMv8 instruction set, while the other is meant as an x86 replacement for the Bulldozer architecture and its descendants. Both cores have been designed from the ground up by a team led by Jim Keller, the lead architect behind AMD's K8 architecture. Keller worked at Apple on the A4 and A4 before returning to AMD in 2012. The first chips based on the new AMD cores are due in 2016."

5 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Keller worked at Apple on the A4 and A4 by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Probably worked on the A4 and A4 and the A4, as well.

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    1. Re:Keller worked at Apple on the A4 and A4 by flyingfsck · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, no, that is obviously a typo. T'was the A4, Letter and Legal.

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  2. Re:Been a long time since I cared by werepants · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The last time I truly got excited about AMD was when the K6-2 came out.

    What? During the P4 days AMD was ahead in almost every category in the benchmarks... did you miss that whole era? No denying the picture today is far less exciting, though.

  3. Re:Right, because that worked so well by amorsen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Transmeta was at the end of the era where decoding performance mattered. Keeping the translated code around was actually useful. These days decoding is approximately free on any CPU with half-decent performance -- the amount of extra die space for a complex decoder is not worth worrying about.

    You can save a bit of power with a simpler decode stage, but you are unlikely to beat ARM Thumb-2 on power by software-translating x86 the way Transmeta did. Besides, most of the interesting code for low power applications is ARM or MIPS already, so what is the point?

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  4. Best of luck to them by Dega704 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was such an AMD fanboy ever since I built my first (new) computer with a K6-II. I have to admit I miss the days of the Athlon being called "The CPU that keeps Intel awake at night." After Bulldozer bombed so thoroughly I just gave up and haven't followed AMD's products since. I definitely wouldn't mind a comeback, if they can pull it off.